[mythtv-users] detecting blank screen if video source is turned off

[Adam Hirsch]

Brad Sawatzky (brad+mythtv at swatter.net) wrote:

> Try compressing the 10 second clip and checking the sizes again.  I'll bet
> you won't even have to transcode to another video format, you could just
> use gzip.

That is an *excellent* suggestion, and it works like a treat.

10 seconds of video captured from my hauppauge card with the cable box
turned on and off:

  mwamizi% du -sh test*                                        
  6.2M    test-off.mpg
  6.1M    test-on.mpg

... and then, gzipped:

  mwamizi% du -sh test*
  540K    test-off.mpg.gz
  5.5M    test-on.mpg.gz

That stark a difference should be quite easy to script around.  Thanks for
the suggestion, Brad!

Adam

-- 
  A cake is a cake with or without icing.               <http://web.baz.org/>
  Cake with icing is a better cake.                           <Adam Hirsch>
  Icing alone is never a cake.  -- anon                       <adam at baz.org>